Review: Justin Timberlake 'FutureSex/LoveSounds'

Review: Justin Timberlake 'FutureSex/LoveSounds'

Justin Timberlake 'FutureSex/LoveSounds': Aidin Vaziri | It's hard to tell which former teen band member is taking the biggest sophomore solo flop this month: Beyoncé or Justin Timberlake. Yes, the former Destiny's Child singer's "B'day" offers little cause for celebration, but it's just dull, not totally tragic. Timberlake, on the other hand, has the unenviable task of topping 2002's "Justified," a svelte left-field pop classic that not even an inane McDonald's jingle could ruin. But "FutureSex/LoveSounds" is nearly as big a mess as its hard-to-swallow title. Without the delicate production of the Neptunes, whose compositions dominated the previous album, Timberlake's paper-thin voice gets lost in the mechanical beats ("Sexyback"), swirling strings ("Until the End of Time") and influx of rappers ("Chop Me Up"). The album has a bigger problem to contend with anyway: The songs flat-out suck. A four-year wait for this?